CHULA VISTA: Parolee surrenders after 4-hour standoff

A parolee armed with a pistol led police on a roundabout road
chase through Chula Vista on Wednesday before pulling over and
refusing to get out of his car, prompting a four-hour-plus standoff
that ended uneventfully, authorities said.

The pursuit began shortly before 10 a.m., when officers tried to
stop the suspect for speeding in the 400 block of Shasta Street,
near the Chula Vista Center mall, police spokesman Bernard Gonzales
said.

Patrol personnel chased the parolee's black Ford Crown Victoria
to the east over surface streets, then south on Interstate 805,
Gonzales said. In the southern reaches of the city, the fleeing man
exited at Main Street and doubled back to the north.

He finally pulled over on Nacion Avenue, near East Moss Street
and just west of I-805, and officers surrounded his cars with their
guns drawn, taking cover behind their cruisers. A SWAT team also
took up positions around the parolee's vehicle.

Ignoring commands to disarm himself and give up peacefully, the
man used a cell phone to get in touch with police, saying he wanted
to talk with his mother, Lt. Eric Thunberg said.

The suspect, whose name was not immediately available, also
vowed that he would kill himself rather than go back to prison, the
lieutenant said.

Authorities blocked off a stretch of the roadway around the
parolee's sedan, from Naples Avenue to East L Street, and sent
school-resources officers to nearby Cook and Kellogg elementary
schools as a precaution.

About 2:30 p.m., the suspect complied with orders to disarm
himself and get out of the car with his hands in the air. Officers
took him into custody without further incident, after which the
SWAT officers searched his vehicle for any other weapons or
contraband.